Garment hanger



May 1, 1956 J G. HocHFELDl-:R

GARMENT HANGER Filed Feb. 17, 1955 R O T N E V m J fune MIM fx1/fv' BYWWF@ United States Patent O GARMENT HANGER J Gene Hochfelder, Merrick,N. Y., assiguor to Bogene Incorporated, Lebanon, Pa., a corporation ofPennsylvania Application February 17, 1955, Serial No. 488,788

1 Claim. (Cl. 223-85) The present invention relates to garment hangersand more particularly to a hanger for garments such as crinoline skirtsand the like. Y v

Crinoline skirts when hung will assume a normally expanded position andwill flare out in all direction. Thus, when such skirts are hung inclosets, they take up an unusually large area and restrict the use ofthe closet to a few garments. When a crinoline skirt is hung in a closetnear the door, a portion of the skirt may become caught in the door whenit is closed and be damaged.

The present invention overcomes the above problems by providing animproved space-saving hanger for a garment such as a crinoline skirtwhich also protects the skirt from damage.

An object of the invention is to provide a garment hanger of the classdescribed which can be inexpensively manufactured.

Another object of the invention is to provide a garment hanger whichwill minimize the space required for hanging crinoline skirts or otherflaring-type garments.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon anunderstanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, orwill be indicated in the appended claim, and various advantages notreferred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employmentof the invention in practice.

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes ofillustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawings,forming a part of the specification, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of a preferred embodiment of the hangerretaining a crinoline skirt;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view along the line II--ll of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view along the line lll-III of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view of a crinoline skirt in its normalshape.

A typical billowing skirt or petticoat 7 such as a crinoline pettcoat isshown in Fig. 4. These garments are made of resilient relatively-stiffshape-retaining material so that they liare outwardly from therelatively small waist 8a to the larger hem 8. The flaring or billowingshape shown is held by the resilient material when the garment is storedon an ordinary skirt hanger and consequently a large storage space isrequired.

The garment hanger of the present invention which provides a compactstorage means will now be more fully described with reference to Figs. 1through 3.

The garment hanger 2 comprises a sheathlike tube or bag 3 preferablyhaving its smaller end 6 closed and its larger end 4 open to admit therolled or compressed garment 7. The hanger 2 is preferably made of ailexible sheet material so that it will assume the cross section of therolled or compressed garment 7 when the garment 7 is inserted in thehanger 2. The hanger 2 may be made from any iiexible material, such aspaperor nylon,

but it is preferred that it be made from vinyl to give it ilexibility,durability, and strength.

The hanger 2 may be formed in any manner which may be desired.Preferably it is formed from two side walls' 10 joined together by anedging 16 along three edges to leave the end 4 open. The side walls 10may be joined together in any desired or conventional manner, as by asewing operation. The reinforcing edging 18 is attached to the hanger 2as a coeXtension thereof to strengthen the open end 4. The reinforcingedging 18 may be a strip sewn together at its end edges 19 to form acylinder and, if desired, may be colored or provided with a design, suchas the quilting 20, to enhance the appearance of the hanger 2. Thereinforcing edging 18 thus forms a cuff surrounding the open end 4 ofthe bag comprising the body of the hanger, and provides additionalstiffness to this end portion of the bag even though the edging be madeof the same kind of material as the bag body.

The open end 4 of hanger 2 is wider than the closed end 6, therebygiving the hanger a generally tapered contour. This tapering facilitatesthe insertion of the skirt 7 into the open end 4 and permits thecrinoline skirt to exert a uniform pressure against the inner edges ofthe hanger 2 throughout its whole length, since the rolled or compressedskirt has a generally conical or tapered shape.

Loops 22 and 24 are atlixed to the hanger Zito permit the hanger to behung in a clothes closet. The loops 22 and 24 are shown as mounted onthe edging 16 and 18, respectively, for ease in construction. The loop24 is located at the open end 4 of hanger 2 to permit the hanger 2 to behung in an upright position, and the loop 22 is located at the closedend 6 to allow the garment hanger 2 to be hung in an inverted orupside-down position.

The hanger 2 is shorter in length than the crinoline skirt 7 so thatwhen the skirt 7 is in its inserted position, the hem 8 will extendbeyond the open end 4 to facilitate removal of the skirt 7. lt will beappreciated that an inherent advantage of the culi formed by thereinforcing edging 18 is that the hanger provided with such a cuff canbe readily adjusted to receive skirts considerably shorter than thosefor which the hanger may have been intended, because the cuiic is easilypushed back or turned back to insure protrusion of the hem portion ofthe contained skirt. Thus, a hanger appropriately sized for womensskirts can be very readily used with misses, junior misses and evenchildrens size skirts by pushing back or turning back the cuff portion.

When a garment is to be stored, it is first rolled or otherwisecompressed into the compact position shown in Figs. 1 to 3. Thereafter,the crinoline skirt 7 is inserted into the hanger 2 by thrusting thewaistline 8a through the open end 4 until the waistline 8a abuts, orlies adjacent to, the closed end 6. The crinoline skirt 7 is thenreleased to permit its body 9 to expand outwardly slightly to bearagainst the inner surface of the hanger 2, which will assume the roundedshape of the skirt as shown in Figs. l to 3. The pressure exerted by thebody 9 of skirt 7 on the hanger Z will be sufficient to retain the skirt7 therein when the hanger is hung by the hook 22 in inverted position.However, the pressure applied by the body 9 on the hanger is not sogreat as to prevent removal of the crinoline skirt from the tube 3 whendesired. Since the crinoline skirt 7 is wider at its hem 8 than at itswaist 8a, it will bear relatively uniformly against the tapered hangerthroughout its length.

The hanger 2 may then be hung in a closet by either the loop 22 or theloop 24. The skirt 7 hung in the hanger will only require a relativelysmall space, so that the closet can be used to its full capacity and sothat Patented May l, 1956"` thezefwill benodangenof the skirtbeingcaught -in-the closetdoor and damaged. When the hanger 2 is hung onloop22,"the hanger Will'be in inverted position 'Witlrthe open end 4facing the oor. The pressure exerted by the body 9 of crinoline skirt 7on the inner surface of the'liangerZ Will prevent 'theskirt7`from"'falling vout of the open end 4.

fFWhen 'the crinoline skirtl 7 is to beused, it iswithdrawn from, thetbe by grasping 'the skirt'7 and pulling it out of 'the' hanger 2. Tofacilitate grasping of'fthe skirt'7, 'the hanger .2 ispreferablymadeshorter than the crinoline skirt^7 so that'the hem8 will protrudethrough the open endl and'be in a position to' be grasped bythe userWhenthe crinoline skirt 7 is .to'be taken out ofthe hanger.

Aftellffhe Skirt '7 is taken out of the hanger, the' hanger" 2 willlieat to permit it to be folded and stored.

It Will be observed '.from jthe foregoing description .that they'invention provides an inexpensive hanger for ,a crinoline skirt orother billowing jgarment which takes I up liftlle space, minimizes thespace required`for hanging'.

the garment, and protects it from damage.

It win be .understood that 'the inventionis not to be limited to thedetails of construction and operation described above and shown in theaccompanying drawings exceptas"appears"hereafter inthe claim, and thatthe claim is intended to include equivalents of the elements'mentioned'in them `as well as 'those elements themselves.

Having thus described my invention, l claim:

A hanger for a crinoline skirt which has been rolled into an elongatedgenerally frusto-conical shape comprising an elongated tubular bag madeof flexible sheet material and of substantially frusto-c'onical shapehaving its wider end open and being-seamed continuously across itsopposite end and along atleast one side, a hook-receivingloopsecuredstoy onesofsaid ends, said bag being Vadapted to #befdrawn\over the"rolledskirt, the crosssection yof said bag adjacent the closedend corresponding generally vato the' cross sectioniof the upperportionv ofthe rolled skirt, and a relatively stiff cuil secured aroundsaid open end whereby the bag tends -to grip the rolled skirt and holdit in place after insertion therein.

References Cited in the le of this patent t UNITED: STATES PATENTS1,271,784 Simpson Iuly9, 1'918 2,5813'675 'LcFebvre Jan. 8, 1952

